Time, the Mormons and Prop 8

Time Magazine dated June 22, 2009 has a nice six-page article on the whys and wherefores of the LDS stance on Prop. 8, which served to ban same-sex marriage in California. I think the article was fair, detailed and showed the problems for the Church in California and among people both within and outside the Church, both gay and straight.

One quote is "Some Mormons have a conventional view of homosexuality as a sin. But their marriage preference has an additional aspect. The return to God is accomplished by heterosexually founded families, not individuals, and only as a partner in a procreative relationship can a soul eventually create spirit children. 'I've had personal experience with gay people, and I weep with them,' says official LDS historian Marlin Jensen, but the 'context for our being so dogged about preserving the family is that Mormons believe that God is their father and that they have a heavenly mother and that eventually their destiny is to become like that.'"

I truly appreciate the research and thoughtful writing of author David Van Biema. He has spent a good deal of time in preparing this piece which has resulted in an article which neither defends nor lambasts the Church but which explains clearly and well why the Church has responded to such a difficult issue in the way it has. It further describes individual and the Alameda Ward experience with neighbors and the issues at hand.

If possible, read the article yourself. Either buy the issue or read it online or at the library. It is information at its best.